“Unfinished Learning” Not “Learning Loss”

Dr. Theresa Rouse, Superintendent of Joliet School District 86 (IL)

?We are entering an exciting and unprecedented time of innovation in education. And as we collectively prepare for the post-pandemic era of teaching and learning, it is important to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. While education during the pandemic was certainly not perfect, many positive developments emerged from the new modalities for learning – including remote instruction. Moving forward, there are important considerations for educational leaders and policymakers alike. My EducationWeek article “Why Are We Turning Our Backs On Remote Learning?” analyzes the political motivations of educational policy and calls on leaders to respond with action.

?In the post-pandemic era of education, we can guide our schools to new possibilities for teaching and learning. Here are four principles to guide you in reframing, rethinking, and reconsidering instructional options for students in your district.

Operate from an Asset-Based Perspective

There is much talk about “learning loss” from the past year and a half. Rather than simply accepting this as truth, what if we stop viewing our students as if they have deficits and rather consider their assets?

What if we asked, “What ways did the students grow during the pandemic? What new skills did they acquire?” We can think of pandemic learning as unfinished learning – that is, learning still in progress.

By starting the year with solid benchmarking, we can know exactly where our students are, what skills they have, and what gaps exist. Then, teachers can strategize together about how to meet the needs of the students. This is a far better way to facilitate learning rather than simply remediating or reteaching everything. By determining what knowledge and skills the students already have, the learning can be built from a strengths-based perspective. This will keep challenging every student in their respective educational journeys.

Lead with Equity and Inclusion at the Forefront

For me, leading with equity means treating the students in my district like family – all 10,500 of them. With this perspective, I must ask myself important questions as I lead, such as “Is this what I would want for my child?”

During remote instruction, we had to take several big actions to serve our students. ?These included providing technology to be successful in remote learning, securing broadband internet access for families, and accepting that a hybrid schedule would not work in our particular context. Additionally, we began the 2020-2021 school year with three weeks of social-emotional learning. We wanted teachers to focus on building relationships with students, giving them skills to effectively learn from home, and supporting them in using educational tools.

For this next stage, we must keep equity and inclusion at the forefront of our decision making. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that one size truly does not fit all.

Provide Options for Learners

The pandemic has shown us that there are many possibilities for student learning. While remote instruction has its limitations, there can also be benefits. After all, in-person learning may not be the best solution for all students. For example, students who have social anxiety or medical needs can do much better in an online environment than when they are in the physical classroom. We should explore all flexibilities and options for teaching and learning.

Additionally, we also need to provide new modes of instruction for students. One of the changes the pandemic helped spark was eliminating excessive whole group instruction. This format of instruction can be ineffective because all students do not benefit from receiving the information in the exact same way. As educators, we need to look at the individual needs of students and then teach in small group or individual settings. We also need to support educators in their curriculum and pedagogy to effectively make these changes.

Learn from our Failures

If we are asking teachers to implement a variety of changes, we must provide them with a safety net and permission to fail. We need to support teachers as we forge new educational pathways together - providing the tools, training, and support they need.

Failure is not a bad thing. A failure just means that we are learning and we are moving into the next realm of progress.

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When it comes to remote learning, let’s change the water in the bath, but let's not throw the baby out. By operating from an asset-based perspective, leading with equity and inclusion at the forefront, providing options for students, and learning from our failures, we can open new pathways for educational excellence and innovation.